Essay
Getting Real: Fix Time and Budget, Flex Scope
37signals Free Beginner
A short, plain chapter that makes the case for keeping money and dates fixed while trimming features. It is the cleanest argument for why a milestone should be a smaller, real thing you can see, not a promise to finish everything at once. Read it before you write your payment schedule so you frame milestones around shippable slices.
- Launching on time, on budget, and on full scope almost never happens.
- Hold time and budget steady, then pull back scope to fit.
- A smaller thing that works beats a bigger thing that half works.
